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Does anyone know of anywhere that does stove enamelling? I have some obsolete grill and oven parts for a cooker that were finished in 'polar white'. Lots of places can do powder coating but I don't think that will withstand the temperatures reached without discolouring.

True stove enameling is glass frit sprayed onto metal then fired so it melts and flows.
There are still some firms re-enameling cast iron baths, heaven knows why, but they may help.
Beware, some refinishers think any spray finish on a bath is stove enamel, wrong.

I don't know about this particular case, but some (not all) fuel tanks in spirit burners etc. were silver soldered as a safety measure lest leaking fuel should catch fire. Mind you I doubt even silver solder could stand up to the temperatures needed to melt glass.

Glass starts melting at 800 centigrade upwards, enamel paint is higher.
If suitable paint was available and the shelves would fit in the kiln, I could fire it all, the kiln goes to 1300C.
Most solder for fusing metal will start creeping at 200C, been there, done that.
Rick.

Does anyone know of anywhere that does stove enamelling? I have some obsolete grill and oven parts for a cooker that were finished in 'polar white'. Lots of places can do powder coating but I don't think that will withstand the temperatures reached without discolouring.

An internet search will reveal many companies who will do stove enamelling and powder coating, but the price is likely to be prohibitive.

It's worth outlining the differences between the three main processes:

Stove enamelling:

In case there's any doubt, 'stove enamelling' doesn't mean 'enamelling for stoves' - 'stoving' is the term for the curing process in an oven at 120 degrees C (248 F), of paint sprayed onto steel with the same sort of spray gun used to spray a car in a garage. Some stove enamelling paints are two-part, but as with cellulose paint, for safety and environmental reasons, have tended to fall out of favour.

Not sure what temperature it will withstand, but presumably at least 120C, and probably more.

Powder Coating:

The powdered paint is electrostatically charged and sprayed onto the part. The part is then placed in an oven where the powder particles melt to form a continuous hard wearing film. The oven is more expensive than a stove enamelling oven because it has to heat the component to a higher temperature - about 200 degrees Celsius (392F). The spray guns are quite different from a paint spraying gun and cost thousands of pounds.

Used extensively for alloy car wheels.

Again, I don't know what upper temperature limit it will withstand, but presumably at least 200C.

Vitreous Enamel:

The key ingredient of vitreous enamel (also called 'porcelain enamel'), is finely ground glass called frit. It's applied by a spray gun, then fired in an oven at between 750 and 850 °C (1,380 and 1,560 °F) to fuse the powdered glass. The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable vitreous finish. Typical uses are for such things as AGA style cookers, and it was used extensively on gas and electric cooker hobs, splash-backs , doors and side panels, and cast iron baths. Though durable and able to withstand heat, it's main disadvantage, being glass, is that it chips easily if struck by a hard object and can't be satisfactorily repaired. It's a process that's been known about for thousands of years, often used for jewellery.

Powder coating can withstand extreme temperatures but may become tacky at higher temps.
2k paint can withstand engine cylinder temps without a problem (upto 300C).
Teflon may be a good solution but it's unknown if it's made in any other colour except grey.
Rick.

There were methods for repairing vitreous enamel that used an RF generator and hand held heating coil.
It did a great job on repairing the coatings on domestic appliances that had been damaged during production.

My late mother used to make enamelled jewellery and other items and the process was relatively simple.
The article to be treated was rendered very clean by pickling in a dilute acid, and then coated with some form of gum in order that the powdered glass would adhere.
Then fired in a table top kiln, don't know exactly what temperature was used, but it was a dull red heat.

For parts of a stove, a larger kiln would be needed, such as one intended for firing pottery, but the process should be the same.

For parts of a stove, a larger kiln would be needed, such as one intended for firing pottery, but the process should be the same.

That's pretty much how they re-did the parts of a friend's Aga - which was assembled using parts collected from several different dead Agas bought off Ebay. Of course the parts were different colours and chipped/rusted so they were abrasive-blasted back to bare metal and re-enamelled. Even considering the cost of this, the "FrankenAga" still only cost 2/3 what you'd pay for a new one.

@David G4EBT - thank you for describing all those techniques - fascinating stuff, and the sort of thing you always wonder about, but never quite get around to investigating. You've just enhanced my life!

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